Awrittenexpressionofmydullness

War

War and why it’s a good thing, although war comes hand in hand in death, it also brings with it a faster tempo in the way that things progress. Yes death does come with it, but we must also accept the fact that death must come to each and everyone of us, but let’s look at this in a different perspective War is unduly described as causing nothing but pain and misery to everyone involved, yes it does cause pain and misery but it also brings with it a kind of unification in the way that people and their governments acts. to give you a proof of what i mean, let’s start with the first World war.

TANKS

In 1914, the “war of movement” expected by most European generals settled down into an unexpected, and seemingly unwinnable, war of trenches. With machine guns reinforcing massed rifle fire from the defending trenches, attackers were mowed down by the thousands before they could even get to the other side of “no-man’s-land.”

A solution presented itself, however, in the form of the automobile, which took the world by storm after 1900. Powered by a small internal combustion engine burning diesel or gas, a heavily-armored vehicle could advance even in the face of overwhelming small arms fire. Add some serious guns and replace the wheels with armored treads to handle rough terrain, and the tank was born.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL

In the first days of flight, once a plane left the ground the pilot was pretty much isolated from the terrestrial world, unable to receive any information aside from obvious signals using flags or lamps. This changed thanks to the efforts of the U.S. Army, which installed the first operational two-way radios in planes during the Great War (but prior to U.S. involvement). Development began in 1915 at San Diego, and by 1916 technicians could send a radio telegraph over a distance of 140 miles; radio telegraph messages were also exchanged between planes in flight. Finally, in 1917, for the first time a human voice was transmitted by radio from a plane in flight to an operator on the ground.

MOBILE X-RAY MACHINES

With millions of soldiers suffering grievous, life-threatening injuries, there was obviously a huge need during the Great War for the new wonder weapon of medical diagnostics, the X-ray—but these required very large machines that were both too bulky and too delicate to move. Enter Marie Curie, who set to work creating mobile X-ray stations for the French military immediately after the outbreak of war; by October 1914, she had installed X-ray machines in several cars and small trucks which toured smaller surgical stations at the front. By the end of the war there were 18 of these “radiologic cars” or “Little Curies” in operation. African-American inventor Frederick Jones developed an even smaller portable X-ray machine in 1919 (Jones also invented refrigeration units, air conditioning units, and the self-starting gasoline lawnmower).

SANITARY NAPKINS

Women traditionally improvised all kinds of disposable or washable undergarments to deal with their monthly period, all the way back to softened papyrus in ancient Egypt. But the modern sanitary napkin as we know it was made possible by the introduction of new cellulose bandage material during the First World War; it wasn’t long before French nurses figured out that clean, absorbent cellulose bandages were far superior to any predecessors. British and American nurses picked up on the habit, and corporate America wasn’t far behind: In 1920, Kimberly-Clark introduced the first commercial sanitary napkin, Kotex (that’s “cotton” + “texture”). But it was rough going at first, as no publications would carry advertisements for such a product. It wasn’t until 1926 that Montgomery Ward broke the barrier, carrying Kotex napkins in its popular catalogue.

Penicillin

Originally, the discovery of the capabilities of the Penicillium Notatum mold on killing bacteria was made in 1869 by Ernest Duchesne and Sir Alexander Fleming made it popular later or in 1928 with his studies on the matter. However, it was not until 1939 when Dr. Howard Florey’s research was able to prove the effectiveness of penicillin without a shadow of a doubt and with the aid of Andrew J. Moyer he developed the most powerful antibacterial substance in the world. Needless to say, with all the wounded soldiers dying from simple infections, it was about time.

RADAR

While the original plan for radio waves was to create a device that could concentrate them into powerful blasts (the presumed death ray machine), things took a different turn for this technology. The basis of the radio wave tech can be found back in 1886, but an actual demonstration of a working RADAR system capable of bouncing the radio signal off objects in order to determine their position was made much later on, in 1935 by Arnold F Wilkins.

The jet engine

Ironically, the British scientist Sir Frank Whittle finalized the functioning prototype for jet engines long before the Germans, but the government showed limited interest in the invention and awarded him very low funds. This is the reason why the German army that poured massive funding and manpower into the development of this technology was able to reap the benefits sooner. The Messerschmitt ME 262 (fighter jet) and the Arado Ar 234 (bomber) were among the most feared weapons of the Axis, particularly the former one which was allegedly able to gun down 5 allied planes on average before being destroyed. The principle behind the original jet engines is still used for commercial flights nowadays.

Nuclear power

When you think of nuclear power, the first thing that springs to mind is that it is a source of energy. However, nuclear power plants that we utilize to obtain electricity nowadays originated from the bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, namely the Fat Man and Little Boy. Although in theory the scientists of both sides were aware of the potential of the atom, the US managed to succeed in creating a weapon of mass destruction first through the Manhattan project. The debate on whether or not the world would be a better place without atomic power can go on forever, but the truth is that not only would we not benefit from this cheap and clean electrical source, but it is probable that WW2 would have lasted much longer and its end could differ radically.

The original computer

Two coding and decoding machines stand at the foundation of the modern day computer, namely the Enigma and the Lorentz machines. The role of these gadgets was to encode and respectively decode the traffic, which comprised mainly of communications between the German high command and the air, ground and naval forces dispatched. It is necessary to point out that while Enigma was based on a brilliant encryption system, there are more similarities between the Lorentz machines and computers nowadays.

To check out the full list of advancements people made during war just click on the links below 🙂

Given that most of these advancements are military in nature they still are used by people commercially and domestically, these advancements help make our lives easier and more enjoyable. We can liken war to a huge volcanic eruption ,after it’s devastating effects pass, you will find a land that’s very fertile and is a spring of life.
Yes war does come hand in hand with death and suffering but it also serves as an impetus for human change and development.